BIOS Settings & Test Setup

BIOS Settings

The UEFI BIOS Utility of the ASRock Z77 OC Formula is rather well-organized and navigating it was a no-brainer as the top menu tabs have been labeled clearly. We did appreciate the large navigation tabs; while on the right, descriptions of the functions of each menu item are available. There's also a QR code at the bottom of the description column, which when scanned with the appropriate mobile device loaded with a QR code scanner software, the user will be lead to the board's manual in PDF format.

BIOS Settings: OC Tweaker

The tab where we spent a large part of our time at was the OC Tweaker. It contained many settings that directly affect the performance of the processor, memory and the attached devices on the bus channel of the board. Besides tweaking these operating frequencies, OC Tweaker also allowed us to change the voltage and other timing configuration of these components; namely the CPU and the installed memory modules.

BIOS Settings: Tool

In the main Tool tab, we were given access to several utility functions; one of the interesting tools is the Dehumidifier function of the board. When enabled, the board will operate the attached chassis fans to expel any hot air in the system's casing. This is supposed able to expel the moisture in the hot air that may damage the sensitive motherboard components. We can't really vouch for its usefulness at this point of time since most of the tropical countries are perpetually hot and have high moisture content in the air. If you're in a controlled air-conditioned environment, the environment is usually dry. So in either case, you are at the mercy of your operating environment; a single burst of air pushed out of the chassis isn't going to help much.

Tool - System Browser

The System Browser is a well-designed piece of blueprint layout of the board's schematics. By moving the mouse pointer over the relevant components, we were able to obtain information easily.

Tool - Multi Thermal Sensor

With thermal sensors spread across the board's PCB, this utility allows us to monitor the temperatures of these PCB spots with the ease of our mouse pointer.

Tool - OMG

The last BIOS utility that piqued our interest is the Online Management Guard (OMG) that functions as some sort of parental control for internet access. It allows users to control network access at certain times of the day. We assume this may be somewhat useful to control the system's access to the Internet; especially, if the addressed user is a gaming addict and needs to be denied online access.

The BIOS tools contained in the rest of the main tabs ofH/W Monitor,Boot,SecurityandExitare the usual suspects seen across any respectable BIOS. For the purpose of this review, we have highlighted the ones that we felt were unique to the ASRock Z77 OC Formula.

Voltage Controls Across Different Boards

While most enthusiast class boards these days have way too many overclocking related settings, we've decided to compile the available voltage settings of the various Z77 boards we've tested. As you'll see later in our overclocking efforts, we decided to manually adjust the voltage of the CPU PLL to determine how high we can push the CPU Base Frequency. In the case of this particular board, base frequency values can be adjusted by 10KHz for finer tweaking.